Glencoe Mountain resort

The 13th day of April coincided with my 13th day snowboarding at Glencoe Mountain Resort. I was so relieved to get a sunny spring day at Glencoe. The day job has been pretty busy over the last week and I’ve been jealously watching the reports and webcams, eager to get out of the office. To rub it in even further I’d been working in Glencoe itself the day before and unable to visit the slopes. Saturday would be different though.

Being so busy at work I should really have gone into the office to get some work done this Saturday, but its getting close to the end of the season and there was no-way I’d be missing out on a sunny Saturday at Coe. I hadn’t finished work till 10pm the night before so it was a late start. I didn’t reach Glencoe till after 10am. By the time I’d made it up to the summit I’d missed the morning corduroy.

Conditions on the hill

As I mentioned, I was slow off the mark this morning and missed the pisted snow first thing. What was left was cold corn snow on an ice base. While a bit lumpy in places it was still wide with snow across the width of main basin. There was a brisk southerly wind, but the sun was strong and I had packed my jacket into my bag to ride in a hoody. 

The piles of spring snow did provide opportunities to jump off of and there were still a few side hits and jumps left from the last week or so.

I was advised that Spring Run was best avoided with ice for most of its length and an icy traverse at the bottom.

While Main Basin was fun it got quite tricky after Island Rock down to the Haggis Trap with bodies regularly being found strewn across the snow each time I passed through.

The Haggis Trap itself has fun high banks of snow that are fun to ride up and down as if in a little half pipe.

The return to the Rescue Hut and T-bar is a slushy banked turn that finishes off the run. Once again, there were no queue to deal with. I’m surprised more people were not up given that the weather was so good. My last few runs down Main Basin I had pretty much to myself!

Staying cold will keep the snow

As the afternoon progressed, the temperature dropped, so it was on with my jacket.

The snow in Main Basin is not going anywhere soon if the temperatures stay like this. Sunday looks like the freezing levels will be dropping lower, so I’ll have to make sure I’m off the mark early doors so I don’t miss the groomed runs first thing.

To finish the day off I took a rout down The Wall which was actually not too bad. Crusty and a bit rutted on top, but soft underneath. This got you pretty close to the footpath for the Access Chair.

Binding Issues

After adjusting my other bindings to increase forward lean, and enjoying the benefits, I did the same with the bindings on my other board. These are also Union bindings, but the more forgiving Contact Pros. The forward lean block on the back had been playing up and slipping over the rear heel cup. So I jury rigged it with a couple of pennies to bend the block in so it made better contact with the heel cup. This worked for a few runs, but it wasn’t long before I noticed a difference. When I got to the end of my run I saw that the block was missing with only the locking screw left in place. This means the block must have snapped in two. I had already set a reminder to visit Ski ’n’ Board Room to pick up replacements at the end of the season so hopefully this will do the job. In the meantime I’ll use my Union Atlas. I think they’ll cope with the colder conditions of Sunday anyway. 

Will you be there?